"If you get some days without rain, you're going to see it go wide open."

Corn producers will plant the second-largest acreage in about 60 years, but the product won't be enough to meet an expanding demand for feed and ethanol, according to a Bloomberg survey of 32 analysts.

However, Atkinson said it's unlikely for area producers to expand.

"I don't see our acreage increase much, if anything," he said. "Nationwide, if you have irrigation - yes.

"But it's too risky down here to put all that emphasis on corn."

Atkinson said farmers are planting more cotton, which has seen record-setting prices, and soybeans.

"It's already headed back down," he said of the price of cotton which topped $2 a pound a couple of weeks ago and was $1.89 Wednesday. "Locally, they planted a little more than last year."

Last year, there were about 33,000 acres of soybeans, 28,000 acres of cotton and 21,000 acres of corn planted in Madison County.

2010 was also a year which local farmers would sooner forget. Ironically, the problem was too much heat and the fact the rain came down in pockets.

The USDA is expected to release its forecast today on what crops farmers will plant this year.

A crop that is coming in strong early, Atkinson said, is wheat. Last year, farmers had a good crop, and the dry June weather helped them with the harvest.

"The wheat crop is looking good," he said. "It's a bright, deep green, and in about two months it should be ready to harvest.